LONDON: Britain’s competition regulator on Friday said it would probe the almost $10 billion takeover of the UK supermarket chain Morrisons by the US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier and Rice.

The Competition and Markets Authority has served a so-called initial enforcement order that prevents the merger from completing until the CMA is satisfied that the new group will not dominate the British petrol stations in certain locations.

“The CMA is investigating the anticipated acquisition of WM Morrison Supermarkets by CD&R Holdings,” a statement said, adding that each company’s petrol station operations were being looked at.

CD&R operates around 900 UK filling stations after purchasing Motor Fuel Group in 2015.

Morrisons has around 335 petrol stations attached to the supermarkets. Together the pair will own around 15 per cent of the UK petrol stations.

Morrisons agreed to the £7 billion takeover after being caught in a bidding war after the UK supermarket sector benefited hugely from a shift to online shopping during the pandemic.

The probe echoes a CMA investigation into a 2020 takeover of Walmart-owned UK supermarket Asda, whose new owners’ EG Group and private equity backer TDR Capital eventually agreed to offload 27 petrol stations.